It's always been a paradox—and head-banging challenge—for business leaders that the key points of interface come at the outer levels of the organization. Think about it. It's not the polished executives or carefully written mission statements that your public encounters. They encounter cashiers, security guards, customer service reps. These encounters shape a firm’s reputation.

People are the face of the firm —sometimes the most removed, and often the lowest paid employees in the mix.

Imagine yourself on a commercial flight...as enormously unpleasant as that thought is. You settle into the seat, turn off your phone (or pretend to), and sit back to watch the flight attendant do the life-vest spiel. "In the event of a water landing… blah, blah." How many times have you heard this? 30 times? 100 times? There's not much to it: put the life vest on, wait until you're outside to inflate, and so on.

Ninety minutes into the flight the captain announces that the crew and passengers should prepare for a water landing. This is not a drill…